NRHEG baseball team battles Big Nine foe to the wire in 7-6 setback
In less than a week, the NRHEG baseball team made about a month’s worth of improvement.
After a 15-5, five-inning loss at WEM on Monday and getting shut out 6-0 at Maple River Thursday, the Panthers gave a Big Nine foe all it could handle Friday before falling 7-6 on a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the seventh inning at Albert Lea’s Hayek Field.
“I thought we played a lot better baseball tonight as compared to our two earlier games in the week,” said NRHEG coach Drew Paukert, whose team fell to 0-4.
The Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the first when Cole Staloch and John Hubly singled, scoring on a base hit by Trai Wicks and a Dempsey Tucker sacrifice fly.
Albert Lea responded with two in the home half of the first.
The Panthers fought back from a 5-2 deficit to take a 6-5 lead in the sixth, when Cole Staloch led off with a double. Tucker singled and scored on a single by C.J. Schiltz.The turning point came with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, when a defensive miscue put a runner on base who eventually scored to tie it. The Tigers won it the next inning when winning pitcher Travis Heavner laid down a perfect squeeze bunt, improving Albert Lea’s record to 2-1.
Wicks finished 2-for-2 with two RBIs, Staloch 2-for-4 with two runs, Schiltz 2-for-4 and Palmer Peterson 1-for-3.
Eli Lutgens started and pitched into the fourth, allowing five earned runs on six hits, with three walks and two strikeouts. Jack Schultz pitched in relief. Heaver gave up two earned runs on six hits while fanning four and walking two.
“Offensively, we were able to give our pitchers some support,” said Paukert. “I thought we did a nice job of putting the ball in play and cutting down on the strikeouts. Albert Lea did a nice job of scoring almost every inning, which I felt was huge. I felt the sixth inning really shifted the momentum back in their favor. Tip my hat to Heavner; we expected the suicide was coming and he did an excellent job of not only getting it down, but placing it in a great spot. Overall, I was pleased with the effort the boys gave tonight. Albert Lea has a great team, and it was nice to see us compete with them the entire game.”
The Panthers could not muster much offense against Maple River at Minnesota Lake Thursday, generating only three singles by Schultz, Peterson and Jason Jongbloedt off winning pitcher Jeff Lewis, who struck out five and walked three.
Tucker started for the Panthers and deserved a better fate, giving up four earned runs on eight hits, with four strikeouts and two walks. The Panthers had three errors. Staloch pitched in relief.
“Lewis did a nice job keeping our guys off balance and hitting his spots,” said Paukert. “Defensively, Maple River made the plays and we didn’t.”